Kolkata is now filled with cafés and pubs, to an old hag like me most of the places look pretty similar after an hour or so! At least from the core, I can’t label any of these places as a ‘Bangali Café’, well that’s a rare species, right? I mean who on earth needs some oxymoron like a Bangali café? But, right after Dashami this year when I had to meet some of my friends for some coffee, I was only looking for this oxymoron over the internet. And then I stumbled upon this place called ‘MUD’ Café near Triangular Park, south Kolkata. I was nearby, so this was the perfect spot for me! Now, let me tell you what quintessential Bangaliana in this café actually kept me glued and made my adda so perfect that day!
It was gloomy outside and was drizzling a bit, perfect setting for some snacks, cup of tea, good friends and adda! Thankfully I had everything with me! MUD Café is actually a residential property which has been converted to a café with utmost care keeping intact the very essence of the Bengali home and Rabindranath. The property hasn’t been much reconstructed to make it look like a jazzy or classy café. Once you are there you will definitely feel you are at someone’s residence. And yes, this was the residence of legendary Rabindra sangeet exponent, Debabrata Biswas who was lovingly called George da by many.
This is one unique place which serves good food with tea, coffee and Rabindra sangeet sung by Debabrata Biswas. Yes, this café only plays Rabindra sangeet, you may skip this place if you only like western or Bollywood hits playing in the background. I must say, it takes a lot of guts to open such a unique place where very few appreciate listening to Rabindra Sangeet while they are hanging out with their buddies. But I must say this place is doing great and there is a niche which MUD café has explored which no one dared to even think of. If I leave out legendary age old food joints in the city, according to me this is the best recently opened ‘Bangali food / adda joint’ in town.
The seating arrangement must be very familiar to a Bengali born and brought up in Bengal. Furniture and everything in the room are mostly made out of jute and wood. The wooden racks by our seats had clay pottery and books, which were for sale. The 1st floor room is the best and coziest seating spot available in this café, though you can settle down at the ground floor as well.
Now coming to the food, I must say if you are here try out their Irish Coffee and Grilled Mud Sandwich. I absolutely loved this sandwich; it was extremely flavorful and pretty filling with all those generous filling of chicken, cheese, mayo and loads of (boiled and sliced) eggs. The Mutton Phuchka was not there when we went in, that was the one turn down, in fact several food items were unavailable for some unknown reason, even the signature chocolate Mud cake was also not there! But anyway, we went ahead and ordered for some nice Darjeeling tea which was served with some classic biscuit and perfectly neat sugar cubes!
We also ordered for the Mud special Kolkata mojito which was really good but was tad less minty! The Chicken and Cheese Omlette was pretty big with generous stuffing of shredded chicken and loads of cheese, overall the dish was an instant hit! We ended the meal on a sweet note with the fabulous Mousse Cake which was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. And yes, I wanted to order the Mutton ghugni but then I was pretty full by this time, so had to skip it, next time I will surely try it and maybe the mutton phuchka as well! 🙂
The service is pretty prompt; servers can be called to your table by pressing a bell, so you need not look for them. I had been there for breakfast, so not sure what was the reason but there was some damp smell coming from the ground floor which should have been dealt with, thankfully we were seated at the 1st floor. Also we had to pay in cash since the POS machine was not working and that was informed while we were paying the bill. Other than these couple of stray observations, I would say I loved this place, its aura and the offerings. The prices are also very reasonable and easy on the pocket even for college kids. The name MUD surely tells you that there are loads of pottery items here which you can purchase from the cafe store. So you can plan to buy your next gift item right from this cafe. This place is a paradise for foodies and Rabindra sangeet lovers, not to forget the legacy of this house where this café is. So, if you want a ‘nirbhejal bangali adda’, head straight to MUD café, you will love it!
Cheers!
foodiedada 